Let’s get ready to Rummmmmmmmmble.
The political bickering and squabbling in Washington over judicial appointments that has occured over the last couple years is going to look like small potatos compared to what’s coming.
WASHINGTON – Sandra Day O’Connor, the first woman on the Supreme Court and a swing vote on abortion as well as other contentious issues, announced her retirement Friday. A bruising Senate confirmation struggle loomed as President Bush pledged to name a successor quickly.
“It has been a great privilege indeed to have served as a member of the court for 24 terms,” the 75-year-old justice wrote Bush in a one-paragraph resignation letter. “I will leave it with enormous respect for the integrity of the court and its role under our constitutional structure.”
Full story: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/01/AR2005070100650_pf.html
Re: US Supreme Court VACANCY: O'Connor resigns.
The two things that concerned me the most in 2000 that pushed me toward the Democrats were: what Bush would do internationally and how the Supreme Court would be stacked with more Scalias and Thomases. The first has already been realized (beyond my fears) and the 2nd is about to begin. Scary stuff...
Re: US Supreme Court VACANCY: O’Connor resigns.
^^ Wow. That’s interesting. The two issues that most concerned me in the last election were (1) what we would do internationally and (2) new appointments to the Supreme Court.
Given that you too were concerned about these two issues, tell me again why you voted for Kerry.
Seriously, once Rehnquist resigns too, you still have nothing to be scared about. Just to maintain the current balance on the Court, Bush needs to appoint conservative justices who interpret the Constitution rather than try to rewrite it. O’Connor may have been an occasional swing vote, but she was on the more conservative side.
Unless one of the liberal activists resigns or gets hit by a bus, we’ll still have a 5-4 Court on the most significant current legal issues in the land. The front runner to replace O’Connor appears to be Gonzalez who personally opposes abortion but judicially believes Roe v. Wade to be untouchable. The evangelical right is already upset that he might be appointed.
Re: US Supreme Court VACANCY: O'Connor resigns.
I'm always amused when convervatives use the term "liberal activist judge" just because the interpretation doesn't fit their narrow views. I voted for Gore and Kerry because I think the country will go to hell in a handbasket if we have any more right wing activist judges like Scalia and Thomas. It's much more than the abortion issue at stake. I really kinda wish they would try to overturn Roe v. Wade because I think it will expose the conservative agenda as the devil it is and there will be a revolution that will set back the conservative agenda for decades to come. I think I like Gonzalez. Anything that upsets the evangelical right makes me so happy I get goosebumps.
Re: US Supreme Court VACANCY: O'Connor resigns.
Wouldn't it be nicer to have judges who make decisions based on the merits of a particular case, rather than their own cookie-cutter political/social beliefs (conservative, liberal etc). In that respect O'Connor is probably better than almost all other current SC judges. She atleast had a mind of her own and decided based on law and merits of the case.
Re: US Supreme Court VACANCY: O'Connor resigns.
I totally agree, Faisal. O'Connor was not an activist, she was a stand up gal. But unfortunately with Bush's track record I think we can expect a convervative cookie-cutter political/social activist.
Re: US Supreme Court VACANCY: O'Connor resigns.
I hereby nominate MyVoice!
Re: US Supreme Court VACANCY: O'Connor resigns.
^^ Thank you. I'd be a darn good Justice too. IMO, a judge is supposed to decide what the law is and then apply it to the particular facts of the case at hand to resolve that case. Job over. Whether the judge likes the law as it is should be totally immaterial. If enough people don't like the way the law is, they can change it through legislation or Constitutional Amendment. Just don't ask the judge or let the judge change it.
As a lawyer, lots of people rely upon me to research laws/statutes and then court decisions to see how judges in the past have interpreted what the statutory language means. Based upon the language of the statute and what judges have said that language means, people make decisions about actions they will take and what actions they will refrain from taking. There is nothing more frustrating and unfair than to have government agencies/employees and then judges eventually come to say that the statute really means something different than it has been interpreted to mean for many prior years.
Judicial activism essentially changes the rules in the middle of the game and punishes people for doing things that have previously been recognized as being fully compliant with the law. That's true of all forms of activism be it on the left or on the right.
Re: US Supreme Court VACANCY: O'Connor resigns.
Ok, Ok, your hired.
You had me at "Thank You".
Let me ring George, and insist.
We can go drinking together before your hearings!
Re: US Supreme Court VACANCY: O’Connor resigns.
I must confess that there have been one or two bars that I haven’t passed.
Re: US Supreme Court VACANCY: O’Connor resigns.
Expect that from you. Tsk tsk OG.
MV – Forget it. Its not happening. 
Why did she “unexpectedly” step down? Oh she’s 75? Americans do have the strangest law systems.
Re: US Supreme Court VACANCY: O'Connor resigns.
Sorry, myvoice, but even you aren't conservative enough to be picked by this president. Told you this was scary stuff...